


our endless numbered days

by seekrest



Series: Home for the Holidays [3]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Awesome Michelle Jones, F/M, Found Family, Gen, Hurt Peter Parker, Ice Skating, Jealousy, Protective Peter Parker, canon nudged to the left
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-19
Updated: 2020-12-19
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:56:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,665
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28172040
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seekrest/pseuds/seekrest
Summary: It’s nice out here at the lake house, if a little too quiet. Peter preferred the city and the constant noise, the background serving as static in the back of his mind. But skating around the frozen lake, hand in hand with Michelle, made Peter wonder if they couldn’t figure out a way to come out here more often during the winter break.Something that wouldn’t work out well for anyone, Peter thinks, if Morgan didn’t stop being so jealous.
Relationships: Michelle Jones/Peter Parker, Peter Parker & Morgan Stark (Marvel Cinematic Universe), Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Series: Home for the Holidays [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2042758
Comments: 36
Kudos: 97
Collections: Twelve Days of Promptmas





	our endless numbered days

**Author's Note:**

  * For [blondsak](https://archiveofourown.org/users/blondsak/gifts).



“Peter, hurry _up_!”

Peter laughs as he lets Morgan pull him towards the door. 

“Give him a minute, Mo. He just got here,” Tony says, Peter glancing over to his shoulder. Tony winks at the two of them, as Michelle walks in from the bathroom.

“You ready?” Peter asks, only for Morgan to pull him a little harder. Peter’s far too strong for a six year old to have any kind of weight to pull him ahead but he lets her anyway, looking at her with a smile that falls when he sees the scowl on her face.

“What’s wrong?” He asks just as Michelle walks up to the two of them. 

“Nothing,” Morgan says with a pout, eyes dancing between Peter and Michelle before she drops his hands. “Never mind. I don’t want to go anymore.”

Peter’s eyebrows shoot up, opening his mouth to say something only for Morgan to cut her eyes at the two of them - pointedly ignoring Michelle as she pushes past Peter and stomps her way back to her room.

“Morgan—“ Tony calls out, but Morgan’s already gone - Peter wincing as the door slams in the distance. 

The room falls silent, Peter hearing Tony sigh as he says, “Sorry about that.”

“It’s fine,” Michelle says, Peter looking at her apologetically. 

“It’s _not_ fine,” Tony says, wiping his hand on the towel by his sink before walking over to the two of them. “I’ll go talk to her.”

Tony looks at Michelle, a welcoming smile on his face as he says, “We’re glad you came up to visit with us, kid.”

Michelle smiles in return, Tony nodding in acknowledgement before turning his attention back to where Morgan had run off to - following after his daughter. Peter’s still focused on Michelle, the latter of whom sighs and shakes her head.

“I’m okay, Peter. Really.”

“I don’t know why she’s acting this way,” Peter says, chewing the inside of his cheek. “She’s known you were coming up with me for the past month.”

“Knowing and actually doing are two entirely different things,” Michelle offers, nodding back to the couch where they’d all been congregated moments before. “Wanna just hang out here?”

Peter sighs, nodding in agreement as he takes off his coat - Michelle walking back over to her place on the couch as Peter tries to stave off the guilt he inexplicably feels. 

The whole point of coming up to visit this weekend was to give Morgan the chance to bond with Michelle, something that as more time went on she was increasingly reluctant to do so. He wasn’t sure what had brought on the change considering the first time they met -- visiting Peter at the Compound with Ned after a spectacularly bad fight with Rhino -- Morgan had seemed to like Michelle.

But now it was as if Michelle’s presence bothered her, threatened in a way that didn’t make sense to Peter.

“She thinks you’re replacing her,” May had said gently after Peter explained how Morgan seemed to shift from night to day when Peter mentioned Michelle. “She’s jealous, Pete.”

“But why? Me dating MJ doesn’t mean I still don’t love her,” Peter had replied back, May just smiling affirmingly.

“I know that. _You_ know that. But a six year old who’s never had to share before? Who sees this smart, beautiful girl and how much you like being around her?” 

Which brought them here, spending the first week of their winter vacation up at the Stark Lake House with the hope that time around Michelle would give Morgan the chance to warm up to her.

Considering the tantrum she just threw only a few hours in, Peter thinks as he makes his way over to the couch to sit next to Michelle, things weren’t off to a good start. 

* * *

The day doesn’t get any better but at least it doesn’t get any worse, Peter reasons as he helps Tony clear the dishes. 

Morgan apologized for how she acted, something no one in the room believed for a second that she meant. But Michelle accepted it all the same, Morgan stalking over to where her tablet was on the other side of the room and whispering to Pepper who looked exasperated.

“I’m so sorry, MJ,” Pepper said, Michelle shrugging with the kind of unaffectedness that Peter envied. 

“It’s really not a big deal. I was awful to Gayle’s first girlfriend, so,” Michelle smirks, “karma I guess.”

Pepper had smiled sympathetically before redirecting the four of them towards a movie, Tony busying himself with making dinner.

Peter’s learned from months of dating Michelle that by now, if something was really bothering her -- she’d say it. He hadn’t met Gayle, the older sister who was even older now from having lived through the Blip, but from the stories Michelle had told him, she seemed to have a good enough relationship with her and her wife. 

“Penny for your thoughts?” 

Peter looks over at Tony who’s washing one of the plates, Peter shrugging as he dries off the spoon in his hand. 

“I thought bringing MJ up here would bring them closer together,” Peter says, looking back over his shoulder to see Michelle and Pepper deep in conversation, likely about the SI green initiatives they had been talking about over dinner. Morgan was unsurprisingly on the opposite side of the couch, coloring something and holding her crayons so tight that she looked like she was going to snap them in half.

Peter turns back around, giving a half-smile to Tony as he says, “I don’t think it’s working.”

“You’ve been here less than a day, Pete,” Tony says, rinsing the plate before handing it off to Peter to dry. “Give it time.”

Tony snorts, Peter looking back at him in confusion only to grin when Tony says, “Just think of this as your last opportunity to be Morgan’s favorite before she realizes how much cooler MJ is than you.”

“Hey,” Peter says, nudging Tony playfully as he grins. 

“Don’t shoot the messenger, kid. You’ve already lost Pepper. Jury’s still out for me,” Tony says with a smirk, Peter just rolling his eyes as he dries off the plate. 

Only to sober when he thinks of what happens if Tony’s playful prediction _doesn’t_ come true. He already doesn’t spend nearly as much time out here at the lake house as Morgan probably would’ve liked and despite Tony and Pepper’s off-hand discussion about the topic, neither of them seemed in any hurry to move back into the city. 

With senior year in full swing and the weird shit that Fisk seemed to be getting into lately, what little free time Peter _did_ have he wanted to spend with as many of the people he loved at one time - not just to assuage his guilt that he was so busy but for an innate, unnamed need for all the people he loved to get along.

He wanted Morgan to like Michelle or at the very least stop being so antagonistic to her, especially when the only thing Michelle had ever done was be important to Peter.

“I can hear you from here, kid,” Tony says, cutting through Peter’s thoughts as he glances up to him. 

“It’ll be fine. Give it time, she’ll come around,” Tony gently repeats, Peter nodding a few times in affirmation.

“Yeah,” he says, focusing his attention on the plate in his hands and not on the thoughts of what _could_ happen if she didn’t.

“I hope so.”

* * *

“Hey.”

Peter grinned, putting a finger to his lips as Michelle crept up beside him by the front door.

“They’ll hear you,” Peter whispers, pointing towards the upstairs where both Pepper and Tony were sleeping.

“Won’t FRIDAY rat us out?” Michelle whispers back, Peter smiling at her as she still quietly slips on her coat.

“FRIDAY’s a bro. And,” Peter says as quietly as he can while putting his gloves on, “we’re not doing anything wrong.”

“Then why are we sneaking?” Michelle whispers back with a smirk, Peter kissing her as a reply.

He can feel the smile on her lips as she leans back, the sunlight just barely peeking out and casting shadows across the living room through the windows causing her to take on a kind of glow. Or maybe that’s just how Peter saw it, giddy that he’ll get to spend time with her without feeling guilty about Morgan and her jealousy.

Despite, or maybe because of his history, Tony had made it very clear that there were to be no “shenanigans” under his roof while Morgan was around - very pointedly and embarrassingly pointing out that a weekend trip to a secluded lake house did not include remaking 2000s teen rom coms. 

That, combined with Morgan acting like a brat for lack of a better term, meant that Peter had hardly spent more than a few minutes with Michelle alone for a time— thinking of the plan to sneak out early before everyone was awake and go skating last night over text. 

Peter wanted Morgan to like Michelle, but he was tired of having his girlfriend be treated like she was unimportant - even if Tony and Pepper made every effort to show that how Morgan was acting was rude and uncalled for.

Time may be exactly what Morgan needed but in this moment, Peter cared more about making sure Michelle was really okay — _without_ listening ears or AIs.

“How does it not bother you?” Peter asks as they walk towards the lake, holding hands while holding their skates in the other. 

“Why would it bother me? She’s a kid,” Michelle replies, snow crunching under their feet until they get to the edge of the lake and walk along the dock. “If I can’t handle a six year old throwing a tantrum, then that’s on me, not her.”

“I just don’t want you to think you _have_ to deal with it. It’s not-- it’s not okay, MJ and I’m sorry that she’s acting this way,” Peter says, the two of them working on taking off their boots and lacing up their skates instead. 

Peter’s skates are on before Michelle’s, gently stepping down from the dock towards the frozen lake as he helps Michelle down. 

“Why did you want to go from the dock? This would’ve been a lot easier if we just walked from the edge,” Michelle says with a huff, Peter snickering to himself as he pulled her flush against him.

“Some of the ice is really thin there, cause it keeps warming and freezing over. Trust me, it’s a lot safer this way.”

“Sounds like just an excuse to get close to me, Parker,” Michelle says with a smirk, Peter grinning in return before she kisses him.

“I don’t need an excuse,” he whispers against her lips, Michelle laughing so hard she pulls back from him - tugging him forward on the ice as they start to skate. 

It’s nice out here at the lake house, if a little too quiet. Peter preferred the city and the constant noise, the background serving as static in the back of his mind. But skating around the frozen lake, hand in hand with Michelle, made Peter wonder if they couldn’t figure out a way to come out here more often during the winter break.

Something that wouldn’t work out well for anyone, Peter thinks, if Morgan didn’t stop being so jealous.

“I can ask Tony if Morgan could come up with us to the city sometime. Hang out with May and then maybe we can all go see a movie?” Peter asks after they’ve been skating in tandem for awhile, hands still intertwined as they moved slowly across the lake. 

“That sounds like a good plan,” Michelle says, tugging Peter towards her as he grins. “Dibs on the movie.”

“MJ--”

“I have cousins, Pete. I know what kids watch,” Michelle says with a laugh and an eyeroll, Peter laughing in return only to feel an itch in the back of his neck. 

Michelle immediately notices the change in his expression, smile falling as she asks, “What’s wrong?”

“PETER!” 

They both turn just to see Morgan across the snow bank’s edge, right towards the ice. 

“I’m coming!” Morgan yells out, her skates already on as she delicately walks over the edge and into the ice - Peter’s gut churning when he sees that she isn’t using the dock.

“Morgan, wait. Don’t come that way!” Peter yells, moving to skate towards her as quickly as he can. Michelle’s not far behind him, Peter seeing the pout on Morgan’s face as she tentatively skates forward.

“I can skate. I’m coming--”

“Morgan, _don’t_!” Peter exclaims, skating as hard as he can as his senses start to scream at him. He skates as hard and as fast as he can, propelling himself closer and closer to the edge as he starts waving at Morgan to go back to the shore.

“Peter, I can--”

“Morgan!” He calls out, only for his senses to go completely haywire just when he hears it - a crack in the ice from too much pressure being put upon it.

He gets the chance to see Morgan’s eyes widen and to hear Michelle scream behind him, just before being plunged straight down into the icy cold lake - too shocked to think that the person he should’ve been concerned about is himself. 

The water is freezing, sharp needles and pin pricks all around him as frantically looks back up to where he’s fallen. But it’s hard for Peter to focus, the water so cold and so numbing that it’s almost like fire in his veins. The cold wraps around him like a vise grip around his throat, his chest, his limbs - Peter struggling against the weight of the coat specially-made for him to keep him warm since his spider-DNA made him that much more susceptible to hypothermia.

The irony of his coat being the thing that pulls him even further down isn’t lost on him, just as his sense of direction starts to slip away - his thoughts muddled and incoherent as he flails about in the water. 

It’s cold, _so_ cold - cutting deep into his bones until Peter starts to feel weightless, almost detached from his body. 

Time becomes syrupy, his thoughts slippery and unfocused as he struggles to stay awake.

Peter blinks a few times, the desperate need for air battling with a survival instinct to stay awake as he looks back up to what he can only describe as a light. 

It’s almost cliche, Peter distantly thinks as he sinks further and further down - the cold wrapped so tightly around him that he can barely feel his hands and legs - for there to be a light up above him. Peter had thought a lot about how he would die but hadn’t ever really thought about what came next, hoping that if there was a next, that he’d get to see his parents and Ben again. 

Peter could almost smile at the thought, if he had any control of his body at all as the water pulls him down deeper - the light growing brighter and brighter, almost blue as Peter’s vision starts to blur. 

For as cold as it was just moments before, Peter feels an inexplicable warmth now - all his worries slowly fading away as the light competes with the darkness closing around his vision. 

He thinks of May, can almost feel her arms wrap around him as he smiles - everything around him now bathed in light and in a warmth that pulls him further and further down even if his sense of gravity has shifted once again. 

Peter can only hope that she’s okay, be glad that Morgan and Michelle were safe, that Tony would be there with them… his thoughts becoming less and less coherent until there’s only images and feelings of love. 

It’s the last thing he thinks as the the light encompasses all around him, feeling weightless as he closes his eyes and lets himself drift. 

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [loud as hope](https://archiveofourown.org/works/28339071) by [seekrest](https://archiveofourown.org/users/seekrest/pseuds/seekrest)




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